“The world is looking at India with envy as it holds high percentage of young population, opportunities available for start-up companies, and for its market potential,” University of Technology Papua New Guinea Vice-Chancellor, Albert Schram, said today.

He urged Indian researchers to upgrade their skill and expose themselves to multi-cultural, multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary teams during an interaction with students and teachers of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) here.

The European Union would fund 80 billion Euros in the next five years and this was the right time for Indian researchers to apply for financial support for research and also to make a short visit to some designated laboratory or country, he said.

“Scientists and research scholars should use the opportunities abroad, especially in European countries, which were providing financial assistance through various schemes such as Erasmus Plus, Marie Curie Fellowship, Research and Innovative Staff Exchange Programme and Societal Challenge Programme, since 1980,” he pointed out.

Exhorting Indian universities to improve the quality of teaching, research and extension on a par with International standards, Schram called upon Indian researchers to contribute to global knowledge to solve global challenges and create the web of inter connectedness together to achieve more.

Though researchers in India were doing wonderful work, they were getting published only in local journals. He urged them to come forward to publish their research papers and outcome in leading world journals, which would help them to share their work with world researchers.

Giving tips to attract funds, he said that the scientists’ works could be assessed based on three main criteria, such as how smart or innovative a research was, how effectively it used local resources on a sustainable basis, and how well the solution or outcome offered promoted inclusive growth.

Schram, who was here with a delegation, signed an MoU with TNAU for collaborative research in the fields of Agricultural Biotechnology, Agricultural Social Sciences and Food Security.